10 Tips For Making Resolutions You’ll Stick To

After weeks of rushing around in the run up to Christmas making sure everything is prepared, the New Year is the perfect opportunity to focus on yourself. Part of that may be making a New Year’s Resolution or two.

At LloydsPharmacy we want to help you make positive steps towards your health and lifestyle goals in 2018, that’s why we’ve pulled together our top ten tips for helping you make resolutions you’ll stick to beyond January.

1. Understand what you want to achieve

Whether it is to loose weight, stop smoking or be generally healthier, understanding what you want to achieve is the first step in making a successful New Year’s Resolution.

2. Understand why you want to make the resolution

Understanding why you want to make your resolution can help you stick to it during the hard times and make it a long lasting resolution. You can even make a list detailing your reasons and stick it somewhere you see everyday, perhaps on your fridge or your desk at work. Here are some examples to help you:

Losing weight

Improve health

Look hotter

Get more energy

Wear different clothes

Get pregnant

Run around after my children / grand children / dog

3. What (or who) is getting in the way of achieving your resolution?

You may have decided to make this change before and not managed it or you could be attempting it for the first time, either way, there are bound to be obstacles in your way or excuses you’ve made in the past. There might even be a person who is sabotaging your efforts. Write down all the barriers you’ve come across before and create strategies for coping with them. And if there is a person holding you back, you might have to sit them down and tell them why this goal is so important to you and why you need their support.

4. Who is your cheerleader?

Equally, we all have people in our lives who support us no matter what. These people will be your key allies, so tell them your goal and how you’re planning to achieve it and enlist them to help you stay accountable.

5. Make an inspiration board

Visualisation is a pretty useful tool in trying to get what you want, so consider making yourself an inspiration board. You use a sheet of card or make a virtual board on Pinterest. In fact, if you have a browse around Pinterest, you’ll see that a lot of other people have already done this.

6. Make a contract with yourself

Write down exactly what it is that you want to get done and sign it. Keep it somewhere prominent or close by so you always have it as a reminder of what you are setting out to achieve. Having something tangible helps to cement your resolve.

7. Don’t tackle too much at once

You may have a massive list of things you want to accomplish in 2016, but don’t aim for too much as this can be overwhelming and disheartening. Pick one or two things and really go for them, rather than loads of things that you can only achieve a bit of.

8. If you fall off the wagon, get right back on it

It’s OK to slip up, but don’t let one mistake spoil your efforts for longer than that one slip up. Don’t let yourself off for the rest of the day, week, month. You haven’t failed, because you can’t fail at something you don’t give up on. You might like to write down or film how you felt after that one error. This could help you avoid the same thing in the future.

9. Don’t be too hard on yourself

Making any big change isn’t easy, in fact, nothing worth having comes easily, so you’re going to have to be prepared for some hard work. But don’t be too hard on yourself. Chalk up every little victory you win on this journey and you’ll soon realise that you’re making progress, no matter how slow.

10. You deserve this!

Remember, whatever your resolution, you’re making it to improve yourself and your life and you deserve it. For all the sacrifices you may have to make along the way, these are building up to your ultimate goal.